


caught you

by RinAngel



Category: Boyfriend (Band)
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Angst, Coming Out, Gen, Homophobia, M/M, idek, no incest i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24493906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RinAngel/pseuds/RinAngel
Summary: “I’m older. It’s my job to protect you,” Youngmin said simply. It never made sense to Kwangmin, that six extra minutes lying in a hospital crib would mean anything-- and it really didn't, when it was Youngmin's turn to need protecting.
Relationships: Jo Youngmin & Jo Kwangmin, Jo Youngmin/No Minwoo
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	caught you

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this sucker in a single morning, so that's why it is the way it is (ie. unfinished, not an actual full story, a total sham, etc.). If there's interest then I might continue on and flesh it out some but this was something I did completely on a whim xD LONG LIVE THE BOYFRIEND FANDOM. WE STILL HERE.

Jo Youngmin was born six whole minutes before his twin brother, which was apparently supposed to mean something, though Kwangmin couldn’t say what.

It had apparently mattered when they were six years old and an older student had shoved Kwangmin out of the sandbox at the park (Youngmin came in low and took him out at the knees). It had mattered in middle school, when Youngmin heard a couple of the other boys call Kwangmin a sissy for taking dance classes, and told them that he’d knock their teeth in if they kept talking badly about his “little brother”.

“I’m older. It’s my job to protect you,” Youngmin said simply. It never made sense to Kwangmin, that six extra minutes lying in a hospital crib would mean anything when it came to strength, or ability, or maturity. But it gave Youngmin a unique burden that he would never let his twin help him hold, no matter how many years went by.

//

_ “Mom. Dad. Kwangmin. _

_ You know I’m not good at speaking in person, which is why I’m doing this over email. Ripping off the bandage all at once. It’s a little late. I’ve had a little bit of soju. I used to drink soju to forget this stuff, but nowadays it just eats at me. _

_ Originally, the words I typed were ‘I think might be gay’, but that’s not true. I know I’m gay, and I’ve known for a long, long time. I’m surprised that I went this long without telling anyone, because sometimes I feel so alone with the weight of it that I think I might go crazy. I have to tell you, I have to let you know, and it can’t wait another day. _

_ I’m gay, and I think I’ve found the one. His name is No Minwoo, and he makes my life so much brighter just by existing.” _

//

Twin ESP wasn’t exactly a thing, but Kwangmin  _ would _ admit that he could usually feel when Youngmin was close. Using his spare key and letting himself into Youngmin’s apartment, he could tell that it wasn’t empty inside, even though all the lights were off. He flicked on the kitchen lights, setting down his bags loaded with groceries on the closest countertop. Things looked rough: dirty dishes stacked in the sink, not to mention the crowd of empty beer bottles to be rinsed for the recycling.

“Fool,” Kwangmin sighed, clearing the sink so that he could start filling it with hot water. He would have come over to help tidy up days earlier, if he’d known how things were, but Youngmin had barely been returning his texts all week. Their parents, too, had been uncharacteristically quiet in the days leading up to Chuseok, until his mother called the night before and asked him when he would be coming over.

_ “I have to check with Youngmin first, and then I’ll let you know.” _ His mother’s stunned silence still made him feel flighty and uneasy to think about— he’d even given in to the temptation to explain himself:  _ “You and Dad said it yourselves, when we were growing up. Family comes first. You can’t just exile someone from your family and pretend they don’t exist.” _

Turning off the sink water, Kwangmin thought to pull out his phone and give Youngmin a call, just for curiosity’s sake. On the other side of the apartment wall, he heard the vibration of a phone, and it rang three times before the line went dead. Calling a second time, the phone rang only once. Calling a third, it went straight to voicemail.

_ He’s avoiding his own twin brother on Chuseok. He must think I’ve abandoned him, too. _ The thought made his heart twist.

“Youngmin,” he called out into the silence; he sounded choked up, despite himself, and he tried again with more power:  _ “Youngmin.” _

On the other side of the wall, Kwangmin heard two feet  _ thunk _ onto the floor, and then the shuffle for clothes. Five seconds later, the bedroom door opened and Youngmin appeared in nothing but a pair of sweatpants. His black hair was unkempt, and there were dark circles under his eyes, but aside from that, he seemed no worse for the wear.

Youngmin was good at bearing pain. He’d had plenty of practice in twenty-four years.

“It’s Chuseok,” Youngmin said groggily, as though it weren’t obvious. “Why aren’t you home with Mom and Dad?”

“Because I’m here with you,” Kwangmin said with a shrug, rolling up his sleeves as he stepped up to the sink. “I’ll wash, you dry. I want to talk,” he insisted, a little more firmly than he usually talked to his brother. 

Youngmin was silent, dead silent, just watching while Kwangmin worked. Kwangmin bit his tongue, taking his frustration off on the baked-on cheese sauce in the dish before him. Their parents had reacted explosively to Youngmin’s coming out. Kwangmin, on the other hand, had tried to react tenderly, tried to reach out— and Youngmin had slammed the door on him just the same.

“I figured you’d be mad that I hid it from you,” Youngmin spoke at last, finally taking up the space beside Kwangmin to dry and put away the clean dishes. “Or mad that it’s Minwoo, and that  _ both _ of us hid it from you. Or… well, maybe you wouldn’t be mad, but maybe you’d look at me differently.”

Okay, valid. Lots of people would probably react negatively to finding out that their brother had been seeing their best friend behind their back.  _ For long enough to consider it love, even. _ Ever since their college days, when they’d met Minwoo, they’d been an unstoppable trio of friends, though Kwangmin was always extra-conscious of making sure Minwoo didn’t feel like a third wheel. Funny, when he thought of it that way now…

“I’m not mad that it’s Minwoo! I’m not even mad that you hid it, I’m mostly mad that I had to physically come here and force you out of your bedroom to convince you of that. You know how much I hate it when you ignore my phone calls.” It was the old magic of distraction— doing the dishes was the best time for a heart to heart, when hands were busy and eye contact was inconvenient. Still, Kwangmin snuck a glance at his brother out of the corner of his eye, adding quietly, “Let me help you once. Let me take care of you once. Let me stand up for you,  _ just once.” _

“So I can be responsible for both of us getting disowned?” Youngmin challenged softly. It was past noon, but his voice was weighted with exhaustion, and though he might have been holed up in his bedroom for the last few days, Kwangmin doubted that he was getting enough sleep. “Kwangmin, you need to go home for Chuseok.”

“Says who? Chuseok is for family,” Kwangmin affirmed what he’d always been told, passing Youngmin another bowl to dry without so much as a look. “Mom has 50% of my DNA. Dad has 50% of my DNA. You have  _ 100%  _ of my DNA and nobody to spend Chuseok with otherwise, so how much of a question was it, really?” He shrugged, a little smile coming to his lips at Youngmin’s amazed silence. “Besides, Minwoo is going to be here within the hour. He’s bringing  _ galbi,  _ and I told him we’d get this place cleaned up and start making the  _ songpyeon.  _ Chuseok is three days long, I’ll go see Mom and Dad later. Tonight, I’m having dinner with my closest family only.”

“You invited Minwoo?!”

“Yes, and he said that with your blessing, he’d  _ finally _ tell me the romantic story of how you two got together,” Kwangmin revealed with a smile, finishing the last of the dishes and draining the sink. “No more secrets, got it? We’ve shared every secret we’ve ever had, Youngmin, and I’ve never loved you any less for a single one of them.” And before he could finish, before he could tell Youngmin that  _ obviously I need to protect you from yourself, _ his brothers arms were wrapped tight around him from behind, his still-wet hands dripping all over Kwangmin’s shirt and his tear-streaked face smudging against Kwangmin’s cheek.

“I’m sorry I’m such shit.”

Kwangmin rolled his eyes. “You’re not shit. You’re still my favorite brother!”

“I’m your  _ only brother,” _ Youngmin choked out, trembling as he broke into tears. Youngmin was an easy one to make cry (a movie with a death at the end was usually enough), but this was the first time that he’d held onto Kwangmin through it— letting the younger twin be his support for a change, instead of bearing it all himself. Maybe it was just once, just one lone incident in twenty-four years of stubbornly being stronger than he had to be, but it was a first step.


End file.
